Trauma-Informed Programs and Practices for Schools: Elementary, Middle, and High School Program Guide

OVERVIEW

• This guide gives school and district leaders, teachers, and other professional staff a comprehensive overview of trauma-informed strategies for schools
  
• Includes 10 sections, which are based on each of the 10 TIPPS pillars; sections include case examples, reflection questions, and additional learning resources
  
• Freely available under Creative Commons CC BY-NC
  

INNOVATION

In this guide, we describe a system framework for trauma-informed schools and offer a series of guiding principles and strategies that align with 10 Trauma-Informed Programs and Practices for Schools (TIPPS) pillars, which are based in research on adversity and resilience. This guide gives school and district leaders, teachers, and other professional staff a comprehensive overview of the principles, practices and strategies that support trauma-informed schools. The guide provides background on adversity, trauma, and the role of schools by addressing the following questions: 

• What is childhood adversity and trauma? 
• What is resilience? 
• How can schools help promote resilience and healing in students impacted by trauma? 
• What is a "system" approach to trauma-informed schools and what differentiates this approach from other approaches? 

The guide provides 10 guiding principles for establishing a trauma-informed school system. Each TIPP module includes case examples, reflection questions, and resources for learning. Our intent is to have this guide motivate lasting changes in schools so that all children have the chance to succeed and thrive socially, emotionally, and academically. 

Our model of a trauma-informed school is based on 10 core pillars: Ensure Safe Communities Increase Awareness of Trauma Increase Awareness of Biases Build Community Develop Positive Relationships Reduce Punitive Discipline Communicate & Reinforce Expectations Avoid Deficit Thinking Incorporate Social-Emotional Skills Create Support Systems.

OTHER

Copyright notice: © 2023, The Regents of the University of Michigan

Trauma-Informed Programs and Practices for Schools (TIPPS), School of Social Work

This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 international, CC By-NC. A copy of the license can be found here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Related information:

Research team webpage: https://tipps.ssw.umich.edu/

TIPPS

University of Michigan School of Social Work, 1080 South University Avenue Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106

TIPPS-partners@umich.edu

Additional resources: Additional information on the TIPPS framework can be found here https://tipps.ssw.umich.edu/tools/